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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Single science GCSEs at private school

91 replies

NicknameUsed · 30/11/2016 21:20

Talking to a friend today whose DC are privately educated and she told me that the school doesn't offer double and triple science, but single GCSEs in each subject. One of the children is doing biology and physics, but no chemistry.

They have been looking at 6th form colleges and some of them won't let him do A level biology because he isn't doing any form of chemistry at GCSE.

Would this also affect his options for university applications?

OP posts:

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 02/12/2016 08:51

What made me wonder, was that he seems to be looking at doing biology for A-level. If he was adequately prepared before making his GCSE choices, then he should have known this might be an issue.

Mary21 · 02/12/2016 08:55

Dn just did biology gcse at his private school. Suited him well but didn't do or want to do science A levels

Paffle · 02/12/2016 09:09

I'm 43. We did single sciences. I dropped physics- hated it. My biology teacher was livid as I was closing off science based degrees and probably A Levels. I didn't care. Science never sang to me the way arts and languages did.

ElizaSchuyler · 02/12/2016 09:14

This is interesting as I'm hoping that when the time comes DS will be allowed to take single chemistry & physics only at his private school due to an extreme phobia rather than fail double science.

But it is unusual & one wonders at the logic behind this schools decision. It seems to me they are assuming that all students will continue into their 6th form rather than apply elsewhere. I'm incredulous that the implications of only doing 2 separate sciences were not explained.

ElizaSchuyler · 02/12/2016 09:15

And I'm 42 & went to state school. Everyone had to take either Biology or Physics then Chemistry was an extra option. No one did 3 sciences including a friend who is now a science teacher.

irregularegular · 02/12/2016 09:17

I did GSCEs (I've just turned 45) and did Physics and Chemistry not Biology. It seems like a reasonable choice to me if you are unlikely to want to do sciences at A-level. And I can't imagine needing Physics for Biology or vice versa. In fact, I started doing A-levels in Physics, Chemistry, Maths, FMaths before changing my mind.

My children's grammar schools require that they do 3 sciences. I can see why they do it, but it doesn't seem right for everyone.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 02/12/2016 09:35

You are probably right about Biology/Physics. I think it's the fact that what he's missing is Chemistry.

There's a fair amount of Chemistry in A level Biology. Not having the basics of GCSE chemistry could well mean he has a lot of extra work to do to keep up.

TalkinPeace · 02/12/2016 15:04

Conventional GCSEs are
single award (B1 C1 P1)
double award (B1 B2 C1 C2 P1 P2)
triple science (B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 P1 P2 P3)

some private schools allow kids to do just the modules of a single subject
I cannot see why

at DDs college there was a girl who came from the local Gels boarding and because she did not have the modules in the other two sciences, she really struggled in her AS and eventually had to drop it.

bluelilies · 02/12/2016 15:48

talkinPeace - I don't think that is the same for all exam boards though. The IGCSEs that some private schools do definitely only offer single sciences - so there's no option of single or double science. You either do all three separate sciences or miss some out completely. IMO that system only works if you're a very selective school teaching only sciency kids that can cope with the three separate ones. Otherwise, they either have to miss some out completely - like the OP's friend's DS - or they get a lower grade because they lose the plot with the harder content.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 02/12/2016 15:51

I only did Biology (mid 90s) - I chose to do languages instead of sciences at GCSE and so only had to take one science.

MollyHuaCha · 02/12/2016 16:17

Our school offered all three separate sciences and every child was entered for all three.

catslife · 02/12/2016 16:20

bluelilies there is a double award equivalent for the iGCSE as well as ordinary GCSE.

TeenAndTween · 02/12/2016 16:23

At my (top tier) boarding school in the 80s you did Physics&Chemistry OR Biology. So people wanting to do medicine for example had to actively not do biology for O level. Crazy!

Wheredidallthejaffacakesgo · 02/12/2016 16:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TalkinPeace · 02/12/2016 17:55

Please do not compare what people did 20 years ago with what they do now.
The system and qualifications have changed beyond recognition

Yes IGCSE has separate subjects - the school in question only does IGCSE which made life pretty hard for their girls at maths AS but that is another story.

The relevant issue was that having done the IGCSE she did not have the grounding in the other sciences that is now essential for A level
the syllabus assumes that kids will have done double or triple award prior to A level

Rosieposy4 · 02/12/2016 19:32

One of my dcs is at a russell group uni studying medicine, he only has bio and chem gcses for a particular reason. ( he didn't study physics past 14, in fact as he is a summer born he was still 13 when he gave it up)
Whilst it was a little more diffiuclt at ucas time as some unis wouldn't consider him, there were plenty that would and it has not caused him any problems on the course, bar the ocassional need to peruse the internet.

bluelilies · 03/12/2016 08:03

Is that right catslife? My DSD was doing igcses in sciences and her exams definitely weren't P1, P,2, etc, so I don't see how it could have been co-teachable with a double science option certainly. DSD hated science and lost the plot with the harder content in Y11 - she'd have got better grades if she could have dropped down to the double but that was never put to us as an option, which was why I didn't think it was.

midcenturymodern · 03/12/2016 08:14

My school did this (I'm 43). I didn't do chemistry, which meant I had to do Chemistry GCSE when I was 17, in order to do Biology A level. I ended up spreading Chem GCSE my A-levels (Biology, physics and chemistry) and AS maths over 3 years. It was rubbish. I had a different timetable to most of my friends and had to stay an extra year and every time I apply for a job I think it looks odd that I got my A levels in different years.
Lots of people in my school only did one science and the was a bit of a snobby 'only the state schools do combined science' as if it was a bit rubbish.

user7214743615 · 03/12/2016 09:22

IMO that system only works if you're a very selective school teaching only sciency kids that can cope with the three separate ones.

Those who got level 5 at KS, i.e. the top 30%, can cope with triple science so you don't need to be a very selective school to offer only triple science. This is fine in pretty much any grammar school and any selective private school, not just super-selectives.

user7214743615 · 03/12/2016 09:23

the school in question only does IGCSE which made life pretty hard for their girls at maths AS but that is another story.

If maths IGCSE is such a lousy preparation for maths AS and maths A level, can you explain why so many private schools have terrific results at maths AS/A2 and why they dominate BMO etc? It's an urban myth that there is a terrific difference between GCSE and IGCSE maths.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 03/12/2016 10:25

Coping with triple sciences means CCC though. So most selective schools I know still offer both dual and triple award, because the higher grades at double would be better than the lower grades at triple.

ElizaSchuyler · 03/12/2016 11:18

DS goes to an igcse school & double science is definately an option though not many take it (DS will)

His school felt that igcse maths & science were better preparation for A Level than the old GCSE but they continue to review the new GCSE's. (I have a feeling they may swop)

Dd is at a different school & I think the new GCSE's have more content & the difference between them & igcse is not that much any more.

Flowerpower321 · 03/12/2016 11:24

I know a state school where all the students do either two separate science GCSEs (eg chemistry and biology) or all three separately but not double award- it does still happen and I think it's ridiculous!

catslife · 03/12/2016 11:49

Is that right catslife? My DSD was doing igcses in sciences and her exams definitely weren't P1, P,2, etc, so I don't see how it could have been co-teachable with a double science option
Yes it's correct and the "core" is definitely co-teachable with the 3 single subjects as it's the same content. The only difference is that for the separate subjects pupils also do the harder "extension" material.
It may vary for different iGCSE exam boards but for the specificastion that I am aware of (Edexcel) iGCSE is 2 theory papers (2 exams) for Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The first paper is the double award equivalent and the second the additional material for the single subject iGCSE.

Original poster

NicknameUsed · 03/12/2016 13:16

"the school in question only does IGCSE which made life pretty hard for their girls at maths AS but that is another story."

I don't buy that. The top set at DD's school did iGCSE maths because it was better preparation for A level than GCSE maths.

OP posts:

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